Building productive relationships between CS and product teams through the power of feedback-we explore the key challenges that have historically prevented product and CS teams from finding that copacetic feeling and how both teams can work together to leverage the Voice of the Customer (VoC) to build a better, more cohesive customer experience.
Silos as a result of rapid scale
When companies are small or just starting out, the lines between the responsibilities of various teams are often blurry
- In those early days, it’s easy for groups across the entire organization to be collaborative, agile, and scrappy
- With only a handful of products and stakeholders to manage, it is easy for Product and CS to feel as though they can influence each other’s workstreams
- As organizations scale, it gets harder for busy teams to stay in sync
Why can’t they be friends?
Product and CS are actually more alike than they are different
- Both focus on the customer experience
- For Product, the “why” behind the product is driven by customer needs and the challenges they’re trying to solve
- CS, driving an incredible experience throughout the customer journey is the name of the game
- Adaptable and adaptable
- Move quickly to respond to competitive developments, bugs, or feature requests
- Be available for customers
- Translate customer feedback into actionable direction
Poor Communication
If CS team doesn’t have a forum for sharing customer feedback with Product, requests end up in a black hole and product teams are unable to build functionality to address the root causes of customer challenges.
- Likewise, if the product team doesn’t keep the CS team informed about the latest product decisions and developments, it becomes impossible for CS to advise customers or confidently talk about the product.
Different Understandings of the Customer Experience
CSM’s are on the frontlines of the customer experience
- Product teams don’t get one-on-one time with customers
- Their understanding of the experience is largely informed by what they see through user analytics
- Quantitative data helps them understand how and where users are spending time, but lacks the emotional aspects of sentiment and satisfaction that CSM see
